Clinical characteristics of acute lacunar stroke in young adults
Adrià Arboix1, Sandra Estevez, Rosana Rouco
1Cerebrovascular Division, Department of Neurology, idcsalud-Hospital Universitari del Sagrat Cor, University of Barcelona, Viladomat 288, E-08029 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Introduction:
Acute lacunar stroke in subjects under 55 years of age has been poorly characterized.
Methods:
We assessed the clinical features of lacunar stroke in 51 patients aged ≤55 years (84.5% men, mean standard deviation [SD] age 49.8 [5.2] years) collected from a prospective hospital-based stroke registry in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Results:
This subset of young lacunar stroke patients accounted for only 5.2% of all lacunar strokes, 1.2% of all ischemic strokes, and 1.1% of all acute strokes included in the registry over a 24-year period. In the multivariate analysis, factors independently associated with acute lacunar stroke in patients aged ≤55 years were alcohol consumption (>60 g/day) (odds ratio [OR] = 6.67), heavy smoking (>20 cigarettes/day) (OR = 3.02), obesity (OR = 2.81), essential etiology (OR = 2.73), and headache at stroke onset (OR = 2.45).
Conclusion:
Characterization of the clinical profile of acute lacunar stroke in younger patients contributes to a better knowledge of the full clinical expression of this ischemic stroke subtype.
